The Department of Health wants to ensure all children are protected against disease, that they are healthy and well, and no-one is left behind.
This is why the department now includes voluntary Covid-19 vaccination for children between age 12 and 17 years as part of its comprehensive school health services across the province.
Vaccination plays an important role in ensuring vulnerable children can continue to participate in social and educational activities with their peers and reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
Children 12 years and older can contribute to the spread of the virus to older, vulnerable people through social mixing, often in large groups. The longer people remain unvaccinated, the higher the chance is the virus can mutate into possibly a more potent variant of Covid-19.
According to Kim Lowenherz, Covid-19 school-based vaccination coordinator for the Western Cape Department of Health, the integration of Covid-19 vaccinations into the school-based programme is an important part of the vaccination roll-out in making vaccination even more accessible to everyone.
She said: “Covid-19 school-based vaccinations are part of a collaboration between the Western Cape Departments of Education and Health as well as contracted entities and local NPOs for vaccination of learners 12 years old and older, in line with the Integrated School Health Programme.”
Across the province health teams are looking at various ways and collaboration opportunities to give children 12 years and older the opportunity to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The school health teams are visiting schools to inform children of the benefits and importance of the vaccine while distributing parental/caregiver consent forms. In some areas the mobile clinic services and school health buses are being used to offer Covid-19 vaccinations along with comprehensive school health services.
Sr Beatrice Groenewald, Child Health Clinical Programme Coordinator in the Overberg District, explains parents can rest assured their consent is required for the school health nurses to conduct any screening on their child.
The school will issue a consent form to administer any immunisations or treatment.
“Consent for the Covid-19 vaccination must be signed by a parent/guardian/caregiver and is a key starting point to ensure the child can get vaccinated,” Groenewald said.
“Schools have copies of the consent form for completion and return, and it is my sincere hope that many consent forms are completed and returned to schools for this important vaccination, as children can contribute to stopping the spread of Covid-19.”
The Covid-19 vaccine is as safe and effective as all the other standard childhood immunisations, such as measles and HPV. Like the other immunisations, it will also protect your child against serious and possibly deadly disease.
The nurses have the knowledge and compassion to address children’s concerns and anxieties when they come in for vaccines. These are administered by qualified professional nurses by injection in the upper arm.
“After getting vaccinated for Covid-19, your child may experience some mild side effects in the first 24 to 48 hours, which can include a fever, painful arm, headache and tiredness,” Groenewald explained. “While these symptoms are inconvenient and mildly unpleasant, they do not mean you are sick, and are actually a good thing, as they signal your immune system is responding to the vaccination and is building up protection against the coronavirus.”
It is far better to experience some mild and inconvenient symptoms following vaccination than to run the risk of having severe Covid-19 disease.
The department is encouraging parents and caregivers to support its school-based Covid-19 vaccination programme by completing the necessary consent form and sending it back to school.
“Please remember the Covid-19 vaccination programme aims to provide a layer of protection against the virus,” Lowenherz said, urging everyone to make Covid-19 their business as humankind moves forward and lives safely with the virus in its midst.
And if people have any questions or concerns, they must feel free to speak to their health-care worker.
For more information on child vaccinations, please read more here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za
